The Precedent
Philosopher George Santayana once said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We know exactly what will happen to Sony if they don’t follow the two steps above because we’ve seen it before.
If the words “N-Gage” popped up into your head then congratulations, you recall one of the worst gaming handhelds in history. Nokia’s infamously failed gaming phone, the N-Gage, couldn’t have done more wrong if it tried. Poor design plagued the device.
If you wanted to change games, you had to turn the phone off, take off the back cover, remove the battery, remove the current game, put in the new game, then do the process in reverse, and boot your phone back up.
Let’s also not forget that one of the prerequisites for purchase was accepting the fact that you’d be quietly ridiculed in public by the way that you had to hold the phone while talking on it, as this photo from ExtraGuy.com perfectly illustrates:
Ok so let’s say that we’ve come far enough from the N-Gage’s 2003 release to overcome such design flaws. Sony still needs to launch a PSP 2 alongside a PSP 2 Phone in order to garner the audience that it needs to attract serious developers that will support the platform.
The N-Gage had the exact issue I mentioned above. By being compatible with only certain carriers, consumer adoption of the device was extremely weak. The result of the tie to contracts and specific carriers? The N-Gage sold poorly. From what I’ve been able to dig up the N-gage and it’s variations only sold 1.3 million units in it’s first year, and perhaps 6 million total, worldwide.
The result of a small audience? Awful games, and only a handful of them. Without a big audience, Nokia failed to attract a critical mass of AAA developers, and only 87 games were released for the N-Gage, of which only 56 were released in the US.
Compare these numbers to the PSP which launched just one year after the N-Gage: The PSP has sold 62 million units worldwide and has been the host of some 600+ games! One of the major factors of the PSP’s success? Widespread availability by being a standalone device not tied to carriers or contracts. If Sony wants to launch a PSP 2 Phone, they better launch a phoneless version of it at the same time, otherwise they’re likely to fail just like the N-gage.
Sony hasn’t yet ventured into the world of phoneless Android devices, but it’s about time. The original PSP had all the makings of a sweet companion device – it could play videos, browse the web, view photos/music from remote computers, etc. Unfortunately the non-gaming functionality of the device became quickly outdated as iOS and Android devices proved how useful mobile devices could be. Android is a mature OS that will allow Sony to concentrate on the gaming aspect of a PSP 2 Phone and its (hopefully released) phoneless counterpart, and let Android worry about keeping the OS modern. The combination could be very potent, but will not succeed without taking the aforementioned steps.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on a PSP Phone and a phoneless version of the device, feel free to drop us a line in the comments. For now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Wipeout Pure to play on my PSP while I wait to see where Sony goes with this.
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I agree with what you are saying but we may differ on the timing of it. I don’t think there needs to be a wifi only version of the PSP Phone at launch. First they will possibly make more money up front by eager early adopters. Second, it may give them leverage with carriers (my guess is this is part of Samsungs Galaxy Tab strategy).
For me this is the Android phone I want. The game controller alone will improve the gaming possibilities with Android (assuming apps have access). I mean the touch screen can only do so much before some games become too frustrating to play and this phone won’t have this problem that iPhones, Windows 7 Phones, and others will have.
Plus they will probably have exclusive games, from top developers.
My concern though, Sony had Linux for the PS3 and dropped support for it forcing some people to give it up and upgrade or not be able to access the playstation network. I would hope Android wouldn’t end up in the same boat, if Sony loses interest.
I understand the confusion. I can’t figure it out myself. apparently there is a psp 2 apart from the psp phone which has dual analogue sticks and a touch screen on the rear side. this indicates that sony is splintering up its portable gaming consoles for different needs. one will provide android with the hardware it needs to deliver a deep gaming experience and will, I think, be a huge success. the other, I think, will be a console ‘proper’ and will probably fail unless it includes phone capabilities too.
lets look at what is important in portable gaming.
1. portability. this means the device must be small, which the psp phone will be. however, phone plus psp2 = double weight = no longer portable = im not taking it,I would rather play casual games.
victory for psp phone (cue victory tune)
2. dual analogue sticks. in my opinion the original psp failed (yes it failed) because of the single analogue nub. remember back in 2004/5 what we were promised: ‘ps2 in your pocket’ ….now think about your favorite games for your your ps2 xbox or even ps3…have these games been successfully ported to the psp? No they have not. all fps’s failed because of the lack of dual analogue, all adventure games failed (except gow) and thusly that which made the ps2 what it was was impossible to make on the psp. try playing mgs on psp…you need pretzel hands.
psp phone has touch based analogue sticks (digital analogue sticks?) but psp 2 may have hardware analogue.
minor victory psp2.
honestly…I think the psp2 is doomed because if the psp phone catches on its going to explode. you have android ports of all games such as res-evil cod etc..quake fully controllable with the new control scheme….after that why would people choose a closed system with fewer developers where you need expensive sdk’s etc when you have an open platform that serves many different needs such as internet phone and entertainment device.
I see nintendo winning the standalone console race, serving the kids who are not allowed phones, their brand is much stronger but sony has a tough time because they are aiming at an older market which has changed significantly and that expects everything on their phone. they may be starting a trend which others can quickley follow …and they may end up as just another software vendor on android all be it with a tasty back catalogue of ps1 and poss ps2 games.
There is an element that is missing that has potential to hurt the PSP Phone (xperia play) lainch and that is stereoscopic 3D. And the reasons I feel that it is the case :
1) Nintendo 3DS is to be released in april (same time frame), and will likely be marketting its 3D ability.
2) Sharp Galapagos Android 3D tablets are probabably out by now in Japan, and is expected to be released globally next year. (can’t seem to find imports or reviews yet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQhd9nSCQV4
3) There may be consumer expectations, since Sony also has 3D TVs and 3D games for the PS3. There own marketting of 3D for their other products can work against the PSP Phone.
4) I play 3D PC games, and while 3D for movies/tv/sports events may be a gimic, 3D for games is an advancement in graphics, especially useful for low end systems that can’t have advanced shaders to produce realistic looking graphics, it can help a player separate things out spatially.
For me I have mixed feelings. I had planned to buy a 3DS, but I was also interested in an Android device with a game controller, and now there is going to be an Android device with 3D. Next thing you know some one else is going to release an Android device with a wacom digitizer built in!!!